''Boomsday'', a 2007 novel by Christopher Buckley, is a political satire about the rivalry between squandering

Baby Boomers Baby boomers, often shortened to boomers, are the Western demographic cohort following the Silent Generation and preceding Generation X. The generation is often defined as people born from 1946 to 1964, during the mid-20th century baby boom. ...

and younger generations of Americans who do not want to pay high

taxes A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, o ...

for their elders' retirement.

Title

Boomsday is referred to in the book as the day that a majority of the Baby Boomers would begin retiring, thrusting the United States into economic trouble and the raising of taxes to compensate for

Social Security Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...

Plot synopsis

Cassandra Devine, "a morally superior twenty-nine-year-old PR chick" and moonlit angry blogger, incites generational warfare when she proposes that the financially nonviable Baby Boomers be given incentives (free

Botox Botulinum toxin, or botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT), is a neurotoxic protein produced by the bacterium '' Clostridium botulinum'' and related species. It prevents the release of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine from axon endings at the neuromus ...

, no estate tax) to kill themselves at 70. The proposal, meant only as a catalyst for debate on the issue, catches the approval of millions of citizens, chief among them an ambitious

presidential candidate A candidate, or nominee, is the prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position; for example: * to be elected to an office — in this case a candidate selection procedure occurs. * t ...

, Senator Randolph Jepperson. With the aide of

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. ...

guru Terry Tucker, Devine and Jepperson attempt to ride "Voluntary Transitioning" all the way to the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

, over the objections of the Religious Right and the

, deeply offended by the demonstrations taking place on the golf courses of their retirement resorts.

Connections to other media

Terry Tucker, Cassandra's boss and co-conspirator, is said to have learned what he knows from Nick Naylor, the protagonist of Buckley's 1994 novel ''

Thank You For Smoking ''Thank You for Smoking'' is a 2005 American satirical black comedy film written and directed by Jason Reitman and starring Aaron Eckhart, based on the 1994 satirical novel of the same name by Christopher Buckley. It follows the efforts of Bi ...

''.

Reception

Jane and Michael Stern of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' compared ''Boomsday'' to ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock (streaming service), Peacock. ...

'' and the works of

Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American writer known for his satirical and darkly humorous novels. In a career spanning over 50 years, he published fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and ...

, although both comparisons were unfavorable, noting that Buckley's novel "might make you long for the days when puerile humor wasn't confused with genuine wit." Missy Schwartz of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...

'' remarked that "Buckley's ace storytelling trumps any shortcomings. And when you're as ticked off about the state of our country as Buckley seems to be, who has time for subtlety?"

Janet Maslin Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for ''The New York Times''. She served as a ''Times'' film critic from 1977 to 1999 and as a book critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000 Maslin ...

of ''

'' wrote, in praising the book, that "even at its breeziest, ''Boomsday'' features wickedly plausible ingredients like a

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

-to-

Rio Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil. Rio or Río may also refer to: Geography Brazil * Rio de Janeiro * Rio do Sul, a ...

Rolex Rolex SA () is a British-founded Swiss watch designer and manufacturer based in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1905 as ''Wilsdorf and Davis'' by Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis in London, the company registered ''Rolex'' as the brand name of ...

Challenge for yachts and a boomer-advocacy organization whose office lobby has been given the brushed-steel look of a Sub-Zero refrigerator. From its jailed reporters who form a “Pulitzer Nation” (wearing “do-rags made from expensive hosiery”) to tax exemptions for Segways and cosmetic surgery, not to mention a proposed set of celebrity-endorsement suicide ads (“like the milk ads, only they’re drinking poison”), this satire combines the serious and the ridiculous with dead-on aplomb."

Film adaptation

Screenwriters Ron Bass and Jen Smolka have adapted the novel into a screenplay. Tom Vaughan was announced as director for a film production announced for early 2011 shooting by GreeneStreet Films and Das Films. As of mid-2020, the movie was still officially classed as "in production".

References

External links

''"Boomsday"'' at Twelvebooks.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boomsday (Novel) 2007 American novels Novels by Christopher Buckley American satirical novels American political novels Novels about public relations Twelve (publisher) books